


"The past is a lighthouse, not a port..."  ( Russian Proverb)

by SttatusQuo



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-06-26 17:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15668205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SttatusQuo/pseuds/SttatusQuo
Summary: What if Aleksa's introduction to Jupiter's new job was started with a ferocious reminder of Maximillian's death?





	1. When you least expect it

Jupiter was locking the door to the last house of the day as Aleksa stepped down off the step on to the sidewalk. At her mother’s barked curse she turned to see a strange man with a gun tugging her mother’s purse off of her arm. Aleksa was still holding on to the plastic basket of cleaning supplies, frozen in place as he tried to take the bag. “No!” cried Jupiter as she lunged down the stairs toward her mother. All she could see was that her mother was in danger.

The gun swung toward Jupiter and three things happened: Jupiter’s mother shoved the gunman’s arm as his chest exploded into a wreck of blood and bone that splattered them both. He dropped like a stone but his last impulse- the one to pull the trigger at the new threat- continued on to its destination and his gun barked once as his body turned and fell. Aleksa cried out and staggered back, still holding her basket of supplies before she sat down hard on the pavement. Her hand clutched her right side and blood began to flow from between her fingers as a stain spread rapidly on her blouse.

“Mama!” Jupiter didn’t take two steps toward her mother before she was abruptly lifted into the air by a Skyjacker’s unfamiliar arms. “No!”, she screamed, twisting and shoving at the arms carrying her higher as she tried to reach her mother. “I have to see my mother!”

She couldn’t tell which of the guards had her even as her flailing elbow connected with their head with a satisfying thump, but she might as well have been talking to the wind for all the response she got. Her rescuer banked sharply and headed toward the blue light streaming from the cloaked ship. 

Furious, she twisted again to see her mother on the ground looking up as another Skyjacker landed beside her. Winterborn looked like a dark version of an avenging angel as he fired a fired a coup de grâce into the head of the attacker before his feet even touched the ground. Her mother’s hand reached up and out to touch his leg as she swayed and began to lose consciousness. Jupiter saw her mother’s chin lift as her eyes caught sight of her daughter being carried to safety as Winterborn caught her - quickly examining her for injuries- before lifting her and leaping into the sky with his own hand over Aleksa’s to hold pressure on the wound. His boots were a blaze even in the daylight as he streaked upward, wings beating hard.  
On the ground a shimmer she had come to recognize as Keepers appeared and the attacker’s body just disappeared along with all the traces of blood. She blinked and two humans appeared. One picked up the discarded keys and purse her mother had dropped. The second picked up the tray of cleaning supplies along with the keys Jupiter had dropped and walked toward the car. The Skyjacker carrying her banked again and entered the familiar blue beam. Danner entered the beam close to the ship and handed her off to a waiting team before positioning himself between her and the portal opening.

Inside the Aegis ship she was placed on a stretcher and immediately sat up. “I’m fine! My mother… take care of my mother!”

“Please your Majesty,” said the familiar voice of Phylo Percadium, “We’ll see to your mother as soon as she’s on board. Let them examine you.” Jupiter sat anxiously on the side of the stretcher and strained to see the portal as the medical team quickly examined her. Except for a small cut on her arm from something, she felt unhurt and tried to shoo them away but they didn’t budge.

They were shining some kind of healing light on the cut when the portal darkened and Winterborn’s head appeared followed in short order by the limp body of Aleksa. There was bloody foam at her pale lips that had begun to flow down her cheek and a huge bloody patch covered the right side of her blouse, dripping at an ominously fast rate. The medics reached into the beam and lifted Aleksa out of his arms as soon as they could and rushed to place her on the waiting stretcher.

Jupiter slid off her stretcher and ran to where the medical team was tending to Aleksa on the second stretcher. Hovering near the end she watched as they attached her mother so some kind of breathing device and slapped white patches blinking with multi-colored lights over the wound on her right side, a second wound on her lower left chest and a third wound on her left arm. That done they left immediately at a jog with the stretcher. Winterborn, who had been on the opposite side of the stretcher wiping his hands on a towel, looked a question at Jupiter who nodded. He left the hangar, wings tucked in tight and long legs eating up the space between them and the rapidly retreating stretcher. Shrugging off the hands of the medical team trying to urge her back onto her own stretcher, Jupiter followed with Percadium, Danner, and another Skyjacker right behind her.

A door whispered open and they went inside the medical bay closest to the hangar area. Winterborn was in the far corner, wings tucked in to give the team as much room as anyone his size could in the compact space. The two guards stationed themselves outside after a quick peek inside. Phylo and Jupiter stepped in and sidled to the furthest corner of the room.

The two Skyjackers looked over the room then stepped back out. Phylo stood near her as she watched the team of androids and humans surround her mother.  
Moments later one of the androids detached from the group and came over to Jupiter.

“Your Majesty, the bullet passed through the liver and up into the lung. There is extensive damage to both. We are holding her in stasis right now but her life is in serious jeopardy unless we use Regenex to heal her.”  
Jupiter’s hand flew to her mouth to block the sob she knew would open her up to hysterics she met Winterborn’s eyes across the room. Reading lycantant body language was something she’d become something of an expert at recently. The bleakness she read there turned her around with one hand across her stomach and the other stifling her cries. She wouldn’t kill hundreds for her own benefit but to save her mother… she had been ready to let her family die once for Earth but now there was no coldly defiant anger at Balem and the whole damn system that was responsible for Regenex to bolster her.

Percadium’s hand touched her elbow. “Your Majesty, there isn’t much time to decide.” 

“She can’t die,” Jupiter whispered into her fingers. “Do it.”

Dimly she heard him speak to the team. The smell of her mother’s blood in the small space was nauseating and sent her bolting for the door hoping for clearer air in the hallway. “Stay with my mother,” she choked out as she fled the room. In the hallway she halted, unsure for the moment of where she was. Turning right, Jupiter jogged down the corridor. Heavier steps followed her and she spun to see more of her Skyjacker guards behind her. “Go stay with my mother. I’m safe up here.” One of them started to say something but his words died as Jupiter fixed him with the gaze she had learned at Aleksa’s knee. 

Jupiter kept moving through the maze of the crew’s quarters until she found what felt like a familiar door and waved her wrist at the lock. The door slid open and she stepped inside to a flood of memories. She had changed clothes here when she’d been extracted from Cerise and taken to Orous, tossed Caine’s pardon at his boots on their way back to earth before discovering that her family had been taken, and curled up in that bunk with him as she waited for her home to be repaired and her family’s memories wiped so at least they could resume the normal life she’d never know again. Now neither would her mother. 

Sinking to her knees she buried her face in her hands and tried to calm down. She was shaking all over

The com unit buzzed.

“What?” she snapped. 

“Your Majesty,” said Diomika Tsing’s calm voice, “Your mother’s injuries have been repaired completely and she is resting. She is going to need to sleep for a few hours as she finishes healing.”

Choking back a sob, Jupiter steadied her voice and said “Thank you Captain… please thank the team for me.”

“Of course, your Majesty. Captain Wise and Commander Apini are on board and coming to you now- Lieutenant Danner has your blood on him on the side away from the cut on your arm and one of the medics is coming with them to see to the injury.”

Jupiter looked down at her clothes. She did have splatters of blood on her- no doubt from the mess of the attacker’s chest as it exploded. Good heavens, there were even tiny flecks of bone in some of the red flecks. The door hissed open and suddenly Caine was gripping her upper arms gently as he lifted her up to her feet, nostrils flaring and blue eyes scanning her for the injury. “Stinger’s bringing the medic the long way,” he said gently as he hugged her to him and then stepped back to examine her again. “I smelled your blood. Where are you hurt?”

Jupiter shook her head. “I don’t feel anything… I mean nothing hurts.”

“It’s the adrenaline,” he said as he sniffed and then zeroed in on the left side of her head just at her hairline, “There’s a shard of bone stuck in your hair and it cut you when it lodged.”

“Majesty,” said Stinger as he came through the door with one of the synthetic medics she had seen earlier. Immediately the synth looked her over and stepped in close to take care of the wound as she stood shaking in Caine’s arms.


	2. Down the Rabbit Hole

Aleksa woke abruptly in a hospital room. It wasn’t like any hospital room she had ever seen but she could smell the medicinal tang under whatever it was that they were using to make it smell fresh and clean. She liked the scent of it immediately and groggily wondered people might pay more if she could find out what it was and get some. It reminded her of something that smelled like warm summer wind in the country. There was a uniform-clad man sitting in one of a cluster of chairs near the door. His elbows were propped on his knees and his body was bent over his clasped hands, waiting on something. Why, she wondered would someone in a uniform be waiting in a hospital room- her hospital room? Was she in trouble? Where was Jupiter? 

With a rush, the memories of the events of the day flooded her memory and she shot up straight in bed clutching her right side where she’d been shot with the memory of the smell of gunpowder seared again into her nose. Foolish Jupiter had grabbed the arm with the gun and their attacker’s chest had exploded. Then there had been—angels, maybe. One light. One dark. Both were huge and there were wings. One grabbed Jupiter and leaped for the sky as the darker one coldly blew the dying man’s head apart on the sidewalk. Aleksa had a fleeting moment of savage joy at the justice done to the man that had threatened her daughter before the world began to go gray. Her last sight as consciousness fled was the concern on his face as he bent over her and lifted as he placed his very warm hand over hers to hold pressure. She felt his body tense and leap upwards and as consciousness faded.

The stranger in the uniform was watching her now. The dim light of the room made his dark eyes unreadable and there was a small glitter to the silvery hair mixed in with the darker strands. It looked soft and Alexa wondered just for a moment what it would feel like to the touch. "Nonsense," she said to herself as she ruthlessly shoved that thought aside

Gathering as much dignity as she could in the hospital gown and pajama pants she was wearing, Aleksa pinned the man with her fiercest gaze. (She wouldn’t think about where her other clothing was and who had dressed her.) “Where is my daughter?” she asked the man who stood as she spoke. Military. His bearing read military but she had never seen a uniform of fabric that almost glittered in the low light. He looked puzzled and then touched an area behind his ear.  
“I had thought you would speak English to me,” he said in perfect Russian, looking a bit sheepish.

It took Aleksa a moment to realize that what she was hearing was near-perfect Russian. There wasn’t time to figure that out. She needed to know what happened to Jupiter. “I want to see my daughter. Immediately,” she said with as much presence as she could muster as she carefully slid one leg and then the other off the bed on the opposite side from the stranger to stand beside it. She didn’t feel ill or even groggy for having just waked up. It must be the excitement.

“Her Majesty has been alerted and will arrive at this room in three minutes,” said a melodic but mechanical voice from behind her. Aleksa whipped around but saw no one.

“That is the chamber presence, “said the man. “All the non-storage rooms on the ship have one.”

“Ship. What kind of a ship is this?” Aleksa demanded loudly as she backed toward something solid in case the voice had a body to go with it. “Who are you?”

The door whisked open and a head poked into the portal. “Is everything all right?”

Aleksa took in the height, dark skin and pointed ears and remembered. “You!” she cried as she pointed at him, “I remember you. Get in here!”

The dark-eyed gaze flicked to the military man with the glowing lights on his face- an officer maybe- and he stepped inside. Aleksa took him in. Well over six feet tall, with a closely cropped beard and military-short haircut. The pointed ears- odd as they were- didn’t look out of place. Behind the wide shoulders were the tops of the wings she remembered, neatly folded behind him. She could see the brownish and bronze feathers on either side of his hips. It was unfamiliar to her but Alexa recognized armor when she saw it and took in the weapon at his side, the boots, and the gloves.

“You saved me,” she said briskly. “Then you brought me to the ship. Where are we now?”

“This is the Aegis ship, your Highness. We are in orbit above your Earth.” His voice was neutral but far lower in pitch than the other man who was regarding her calmly. This one was a soldier and she wasn’t entirely sure he was human. 

“How do you speak Russian?” 

He made a vague gesture to an area behind his ear. “Communication device. It makes translations of all the known languages”

“You flew,” she said slowly as her mind struggled to put the pieces of what had happened together. Her hand over where she had been shot, the heat of his hand over hers as she felt him lift her, the gut wrench and pain as he leaped into the air and the first beat of those wings as the last of her consciousness fled. “I thought you were the angel of death come for me.” He slowly shook his head once, his eyes never leaving hers. 

There were running steps in the hallway and he took two steps forward and turned, putting her behind him as he faced the door, hand hovering near the weapon strapped to his thigh. 

The door burst open and Jupiter pelted through and stopped short with another winged soldier right behind her. This one was blonde although she couldn't see much of either of them.

“Mama?”

“I’m here, Jupiter,” Aleksa said from behind the wall of man and wings as she pushed firmly against his arm, surprised that she could move him aside so easily.

Jupiter looked horrified. “Mama, I’m so sorry. I never thought…”

Aleksa raised a hand. “I think the time has come for you to tell me all the truth about what has happened since that day at the clinic. All of it. Something has not been right with you and with me since that day.”

Jupiter started talking and didn't stop for most of an hour. Someone brought in drinks as they sat in the chairs and Aleksa listened to the hair-raising story of Jupiter's last few weeks. Eventually they were joined by another Skyjacker, a Commander Apini and Lieutenant Winterborn moved to leave until Aleksa waved a hand at him. "You. Stay." and he'd moved behind her chair a few feet away. Jupiter ran down and it was Aleksa's turn to ask questions. 

It wasn’t so difficult to take in, really, Aleksa had long held a dim view of humanity and the goings-on of the Entitled did nothing but reinforce her opinion. Jupiter- she would never have credited her with the ability to manage all of what had changed in her life. Regenex, her lip curled at the thought of people being sacrificed so that people could live to what amounted to forever. Nino. She tried to push the thought away. How was she going to explain what had happened to Nino now that she had been taken out of the continuum of her life? She’d think about that later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tears, guilt, and wondering what's next.

Caine knew the signs well as he watched the other Skyjacker move behind the Queen’s mother like a moon drawn by gravity of a planet. He himself, orbits Jupiter in the same way. The act of saving someone’s life binds you to them. Caine can smell the blood on Winterborn and knows it will be there for days until other scents overlay it, reminding him of Aleksa. He makes a mental note to speak with Stinger about it, but it may already be too late. He doesn’t really know much about Winterborn except that Stinger trusts him and he has a smart mouth. His killing shot saved Jupiter which has earned him Caine’s undying gratitude. As for how things might go with Aleksa his only experience is that things worked out well for him with Jupiter- for once- although decades of experience speak to the contrary. Whether or not that is a good thing for either of them he can’t say.

Jupiter worries that this will be too much for her mother. Caine understands better than most that a hard life readies you for more of the same. All he can do at this point is hold her while she cries out her shock and anguish on his chest. Aleksa will adjust. He has seen through the windows of the houses that they clean how occasionally her shoulders will slump then straighten as she takes a deep breath and pushes on. How her sister always seems to know when it’s a bad day and pats her shoulder or squeezes her forearm gently. Nino is the one person she is never harsh with.

Aleksa won’t like him on principle although he suspects that she will eventually come around. He knows that her sister Nino will like him immediately and love him soon after because she is the most wounded of them all and has never allowed it to carve her so deeply it dries up everything except love and anger. Aleksa, like the cold plains of her country, will need time to thaw and then decide. She won’t trust him any farther than she can throw him-- or any of them, for that matter-- but will be forced to admit that the danger is real and that only beings with the extraordinary capacities of Jupiter’s Skyjacker guards can protect them. She will like that even less and take it out on everyone, he suspects and for that, he feels a tiny pang of empathy for Winterborn who will be in the line of fire most often.

Internally, he is on fire. What if it had been Jupiter who had been shot? It was too close. Stinger was raging about it the entire way to the ship as they flew in. Inside the ship the entire bay had reeked of Aleksa’s blood and faintly of Jupiter’s which had drawn him to the top of Danner’s right wing and shoulder where tiny drops had dried. Caine had burst into the medical room startling everyone as he looked for Jupiter then tore down the corridor following her scent with his heart in his mouth as he heard Stinger appropriating a medic to follow.

Seeing her bent over her knees in the center of the room with her hands over her face in a room that stinks of tears, blood, and the sour tang of fear nearly looses the predator he knows stalks beneath his skin. Instead he lifts her gently and searches for the visible wound as the ones he can’t see reproach him for not having been there. For not seeing this coming. For failing to protect her.  
He hopes she and Stinger didn’t hear the growl that escaped him as the synth began its scan. Right now, nothing made of flesh and bone is entirely safe near her, Stinger included, until he can be sure she is physically all right which will help him ramp the urge to kill down. He’s had a nose full of her stress in other circumstances and remembers this from the refinery where she almost saw her mother killed. Aleksa had remained uninjured then so this is different. Unexpected. Horrifying. Infused with a sense of helplessness and shock that lacked the transcendent rage that pushed her through last time.

The synth finishes up leaving an antibiotic dot on the small wound and announcing that there were no transmissible diseases on the shard and leaves. Jupiter’s sobs have subsided except for the occasional hitching breath but the tension remains. Caine holds her tight with one arm and reaches down with the other as he lifts her into his arms. There’s a small gasp and he gives her a half smile as he says “This is where I make it easy. Again,” as he walks over to the bunk and sits her on the side as he goes to one knee beside her as she leans in to him to bury her face in his neck.

“Your Majesty,” Stinger says… and the debriefing begins.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleksa's first steps into the new normal.

In Aleksa’s recovery area after the basics were covered, the conversation wound down a little and Jupiter seized the opportunity to ask Aleksa if she wanted to go clean up and rest a bit more. Her mother demurred briefly but everyone was keenly aware that the Queen Mother’s state of shock was only going to get worse as endorphins and the lingering boost of the Regenex wore off. The Queen and the two officers had been retracing her Majesty’s ascendance and the adventures surrounding it as Aleksa, in the manner of mothers in all parts of the Gyre, seethed silently at the trauma her daughter had endured. Over the heads of the humans both Caine and Winterborn had exchanged gazes of complete understanding. It was only a matter of time until Aleksa would react. Recent observation taught them that an explosion was inevitable and far more likely without the stabilizing influence of her sister Nino. Neither of them wanted to see Jupiter hurt and both knew that Aleksa, on a rant, could use words as efficiently as they could use a blade to deliver punishment. 

Jupiter walked with Aleksa back from the medical area to her quarters on the ship with Stinger and Danner in front and Caine and Winterborn falling in behind. Percadium had bid Jupiter good bye with a very formal bow and bowed briefly over Aleksa’s hand so charmingly that her mother had smiled back at him. 

“I’m two corridors up that way,” Jupiter said as she pointed down the anonymous corridor as they arrived at the portal to her room. The smile Jupiter wore was sympathetic and only a little forced. Aleksa could see her hiding her distress and knew that then was not the time to the serious talk she was determined to have with her daughter. The door hissed open and they went inside. There was a long window on the outside that opened on to a spectacular view of the stars but after that it was dorm room with a hint of industrial. Who needed decoration with a view like that anyway? Aleksa went closer and peered down at the Earth. She could make out land masses and oceans between the breaks in the clouds.  
She turned to Jupiter who had joined her there looking down on the Earth- that Jupiter owned- with a look that she correctly read as tired but determined. She’d seen Maximilian look that way at his work sometimes when he was solving a particularly difficult problem or thinking through a new concept that wasn’t quite to his liking yet. Putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder she waited until Jupiter came back to herself and then turned and threw her arms around her. “Oh Mama… I nearly lost you. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t know how to start, and I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t put me in a rubber room.”

Aleksa hugged her tighter for a moment and then released her. “What’s done is done, Jupiter. It is a lot to take in, especially when you inherited a family business you know nothing about.”

Jupiter stepped back, quickly running her fingers under her eyes to wipe the tears that had fallen. “Let me show you how the door and the shower work. It took me forever to figure the shower out.”

The first thing Aleksa noted in the shower room was that there were no towels. There was a dryer function that Jupiter claimed worked faster than a hair dryer, so towels weren’t necessary. Aleksa smirked at the thought that even with all the jaw-dropping technology of these people --and not-entirely-people if she understood it correctly-- was that cleaning up meant creating a car wash for people. Water, cleaner, rinse, condition and dry. Before she left, Jupiter asked the chamber presence (Aleksa still objected in principle to the idea of someone or something watching her all the time) for some clothes so her mother could change out of the medical garb. Walking with Jupiter around the room, Aleksa marveled at how easily her daughter had integrated into this place. Aleksa thought the door was easy once you figured out where to press your hand. There weren’t signs on how to use it so apparently it was as ubiquitous as a doorknob to these people from space. She opened the door on her own to find Caine and Winterborn standing on either side of the portal obviously on guard.

“Are you not safe on this ship?” she asked Jupiter as she closed the door again and turned to Jupiter.

“Perfectly safe,” Jupiter said looking at the door. “It’s just how they are,” she said with a grin. “You should know, by the way, that they can hear every word we’re saying.”

“All of them?” Aleska asked?

“Caine and all the other Lycantants for sure. I don’t know about the other splices. Almost everyone in the military seems to have enhancements of some sort.”

“This splicing they do, it is past eugenics, isn’t it?”

Jupiter nodded, looking relieved. “I’m so glad to have someone to talk to about this. The splices don’t think they’re people. This culture splices genes and thinks it owns them because it made them. They’re owned and bought and sold like property. They think it’s normal.” Aleksa recognized the signs of a brewing rant and reached out to grasp Jupiter’s forearm. “We’ll talk about it later. For now, I want to clean up and have some time to make sense of this. Then we have to think about Nino and the rest of the family.”

There was a chime at the door and Aleksa opened it to find a robot -synth, they called them- at the door with a pile of clothing and a pair of boots like the crew’s clothing in its arms. Aleksa stepped back and the synth entered, followed closely by Caine who immediately went to Jupiter, casually putting himself between them and proceeded to watch every move the android made. Jupiter stepped up to his side, sliding an arm around his waist as his own arm lifted to embrace her shoulders. Her weary daughter laid her head against the side of his chest and his head bent down to press his cheek into her hair as the synth laid the clothing on the bed and walked out.  
Jupiter stirred and opened her eyes, never leaving the embrace. “Mama, I’m going to go take a shower and get some clean clothes on, too. Come on, Caine,” Jupiter said with a suspicious brightness as she touched his hand as she turned to leave. “Your Highness,” he said formally as he bowed quickly in her direction before Jupiter tugged on him to leave.

The door closed and Aleksa was blessedly alone to try to sort things out in her head. 

“You. Chamber voice,” she said out loud.

“How may I assist you, your Highness?” came the pleasant voice like the one in the medical room.

“Can you lock the door, so nobody comes in while I’m showering?”

“The door is now secured, your Highness”

“Don’t call me by a title,” Aleksa was getting tired of saying that already.

“Very well,” came the reply. “Would you like for me to start the shower for you?”

“Please,” Aleksa said. “Does any window on this ship have curtains for privacy?”

The windows went opaque and Aleksa smiled and began to undress.

The shower was small but well designed. There were sanitary facilities as well- she was glad that space people were human-shaped and there wasn’t a giant litter box or something else awkward that she would be expected to use instead.

Stepping into the shower she wet down and stood for a moment under the spray that was strong enough to be stimulating but not stinging. There was a dispenser and she held her hand under it until a foam dispensed that she hoped was soap. Sniffing suspiciously, she found it pleasant enough and felt soapy as she rubbed it between her palms. Washing quickly, she used more for her hair and rinsed off before stepping into the area where Jupiter said she would be dried off. Instantly enveloped in a cocoon of warm air and radiant heat the water was evaporated from her body without chilling it. Dry, she padded out to examine the clothing. They were an unembellished version of the attire she saw the ship’s personnel wearing and obviously new. The underwear was more like a pair of tights that cut off at the knees. There were socks which adjusted themselves to a perfect fit once she put them on. There was no bra but when she put on the sleeveless top, the fabric adjusted to her torso in such a way she didn’t need one. The pants adjusted in a similar fashion- loose enough for comfort and modesty with no extra fabric apparent. Aleksa smirked to herself- just the sort of things you could wear under your space suit if you needed to. 

“You can cancel the window covering,” she said and watched as the opaqueness shimmered into transparency. Common sense said she should rest now but the thought of lying on another bed so soon after everything that had happened held no enticement. She slipped on the jacket, noting the reinforcements at the collar, shoulders, and cuffs. This was military garb designed to be worn under straps for weapons or packs. Unsurprisingly, it fit perfectly and was surprisingly light considering the amount of fabric in it. It was shorter in the front than the back and the fastenings were a mystery but somehow when she drew one side over the other, it stayed until she slid a finger under the edge, breaking some soft of seal, no doubt. 

Is there a mirror here?” she asked feeling slightly foolish for her vanity. A screen shimmered to life and she got her first good look at her body. All the lines and wrinkles she had along with the gray in her hair was gone. She was twenty pounds lighter and her skin was taut with collagen again. She looked as young or younger than Jupiter. 

More than that- she looked like the woman that had had a million possibilities and gave them up in the name of love. Maximillian had loved putting his hands on her slender waist that had returned as they made love in the weeks following their marriage. Aleksa had gotten pregnant very quickly and then Max had been taken so abruptly… There had not been time to mourn or adjust. She had fallen into a routine of anger and determination to first escape and then provide for the new baby in her arms as she arrived at her brother’s door in America.

=*=  
Down the hall, Jupiter paced the room back and forth in front of Caine and Stinger. “What am I going to do? She looks so different now. She could be my sister. What am I going to say to Aunt Nino? This helping me take care of Katherine lie is only going to last a day at most.”  
Stinger and Caine said nothing and just let Jupiter wind down from the stress and adrenaline. She’d walked her mother to her room and stayed with her for a bit, then gone to her own quarters for a shower and cried the whole time she was in it. Caine could hear the soft sobbing. When she’d emerged in the clean and borrowed Aegis stock uniform- he’d handed her the boots he had cleaned and left to charge and followed her to the conference room she used as a situation- and part time throne room. Aleksa was quiet he reported to Jupiter who stopped halfway there and looked as if she wanted to turn back- since he’d heard from Winterborn that Aleksa had showered and was currently

=*=  
Aleksa sat on the bunk and tried to piece her day together. Irritably she finger-combed her hair and quickly braided it back out of her way. She was starting to get thirsty and a cup of tea would help her think. Vodka would probably help more but she wasn’t sure she should ask and didn’t want Jupiter’s people to think her mother was a lush, drinking too early in the day.

“Room?” she asked aloud, feeling slightly less ridiculous to be talking to the air.

“Yes, Lady?” said the chamber presence.

“Do you have tea on this ship?”

“A variety of teas are available for consumption in the commissary. Tea may also be sent to your quarters, if you wish."

“How do I get to this commissary?

Aleksa listened to the directions twice and repeated them back. She slid into the boots provided and tried not to marvel at how comfortable they were. She checked her appearance and opened the door to find the guard that saved her right outside her door.

“Hello,” she said, startled into unusual politeness.

“Lady Aleksa,” he said as he stepped away from the wall by her door to face her. 

“I was going to get some tea at the commissary,” she said wondering if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. 

“Tea can be brought to you,” he said as one hand lifted to indicate the door to her room where the door was sliding closed.

As always, her anger saved her. “Am I someone so important that someone should stop their day to bring me tea?” she muttered, “I don’t think so.” With that she strode forward with as much dignity as she could muster and began following the directions she had received. He moved with her a respectful distance behind but so silently she looked over her shoulder to see if he was still following her. She stopped abruptly. “I don’t know your name.”

“Winterborn, Lady.”

Aleksa frowned. “First name?”

“I don’t have one. You must be with your unit for a standard year before you get your call name. I’ve only been with this unit for ten months.”

“Your parents didn’t name you?” Aleksa.

“Our splicers don’t give us names, just numerical identifiers on our tags.”

“You’re a person. People should have names.”

Winterborn almost argued and then his protocols kicked in. “As you say, Lady.”

Alexa looked annoyed and then *her* protocols for behavior kicked in also.

“Then get up here and walk with me so I don’t get lost. You know where the commissary is don’t you?”

Something that was almost a smile flirted with the corner of his mouth as he gave a short bow and offered her his left arm. Aleksa placed her hand on it, startled by the heat she felt radiating from his skin. “Your skin is very warm.” He nodded. “Lycantants run warmer than humans. Splices in general have higher temperatures than humans.”

“The other soldier with my daughter, the blonde one, he’s like you, isn’t he?”

“Similar, yes, but his genetics are a little different. Most lycantants bred for the military look like me.”

They arrived at the commissary which was lightly populated with a few people. Not all of them were human and she hesitated, hating that she startled. She didn’t want to stare like a yokel. Winterborn’s large warm hand covered hers on his arm for her attention.

“Lady,” he said as he bent to speak softly to her, “You have not had time to get an electronic identification which is what you’ll need to obtain food and drink here. If you tell me what you want I will obtain that for you.”  
Together they walked to what looked like a blank wall with a counter on it. Winterborn held a gloved hand over one of several dark bars dotting the flat surface, spoke two words in an unfamiliar language and then looked at her.

“Tea, as close to Earth’s black tea as you can get it brewed hot and strong.”

“Stimulant or non-stimulant?” The question made her pause for a moment.

“Caffeinated, but not strong,” Aleksa suspected that the ship had stimulants which could probably power the ship, but she would eventually want to rest.

Winterborn spoke a few more words and waited expectantly a small tray emerged from the back of the wall with a cup, an oddly-shaped bag filled with dark grains and a flat metal object that looked like a tongue depressor that must be what you stirred your drink with. Steam rose from the cup and Aleksa dropped the tea bag in and took the cup with her to try to a seat to the edge of the room. The crowd had thinned considerably since she entered the room whether from discomfort or respect she couldn’t guess. She was getting some curious looks but no hostile ones

Sniffing the tea, she found It to be acceptable if a bit floral. The first sip was delicious, and she lifted the cup to Winterborn in a small salute. “This is good. Thank you.” 

One corner of the guard’s mouth turned up again. “It is the tea that Her Majesty takes most often when she wants more energy at the end of the day. You do not take honey in yours, though.”

Aleksa shook her head. “Sweets were a luxury as I grew up, so I learned to do without.” She was craning her neck to look up and over at the tall soldier. “Will you at least sit down?

He nodded and Aleksa sipped again, tapping a heel under the table and rolling her ankles to help break in the boots. It caught the lycantant’s attention and he looked down. “Are the boots uncomfortable?” he asked.

“Not really, no. They’re just stiff. It’s been a long time since I broke in tall boots.”

Winterborn nodded sympathetically. Aleksa eyed his boots and a memory flared. Jupiter being carried away up into the sky. The bright flare of lights coming from the boots of the winged soldier carrying her.

“They make you fly, these boots of yours?”

“Not exactly.”

“How exactly?”

Winterborn managed only a bit better than Caine had with Jupiter. “I don’t know the exact mechanism except that it involves differential equations and gravity. I can surf gravitational waves and make simple repairs. My skills lie in other areas.”

Aleksa pounced. “Just what are these skills, exactly?”

Winterborn considered for a moment. “The splicers breed traits they want into the purpose of the splice. Lycantants are bred to be stronger and faster than pure humans with genetic advantages that make us better soldiers. The qualities of lycan loyalty, pack mentality, heightened senses, and protectiveness are all things that the splicers breed for in lycantants. It makes us good soldiers and guards.”

Aleksa sipped her tea thoughtfully. “I see.” The silence stretched out as she sat very still, staring into the distance thinking. Winterborn stood beside her, hands clasped behind his back beneath his wings- his presence keeping the curious stares of the crew to a minimum as they all eventually filtered out. 

“I haven’t thanked you for saving my daughter,” she said quietly as she looked back over her shoulder at him and stood with her empty cup in her hand, “and me” she said after a pause. 

A flush rose from beneath the collar of his uniform and his gaze slipped uncomfortably away to some point in the empty commissary. Despite her tercie background or perhaps because of it she did something few others in the gyre would have done. He doubted it would have occurred to most Entitled to thank him for anything. It would have been like thanking the bed they slept in or the chairs they sat on.

Her hand touched his elbow. “I’m tired now. Will you walk me back?”

The silence between them was steady with the acknowledgement of her gratitude and his commitment to keep her safe. He offered his arm again and she laid her hand on it as he watched, noting the tremble of fatigue in her fingers. At her door he bowed slightly, and she went in without a word as he scented the air for any new presences and stepped in front of it as it closed to guard her again. Professionally, he shouldn’t have had any feelings about his actions beyond being pleased that they were successful. Lately, the Queen and now her mother had influenced him- and if unit gossip was to be believed-and the rest of the guards into almost believing that they were individuals entitled to the same rights as pure humans. There was going to be trouble when the rest of the Gyre got wind of that. He could feel it in his bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's so much floating around in my head now about just what mistakes a middle-aged mother might want to make again or never make again if presented the opportunities. Then there's Nino.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nino, meet Skyjackers. Skyjackers, meet Nino

It was a long walk down to Aleksa’s room to discuss the inevitable conversation needing to be had with Nino. 

“Mama, we have to talk about Aunt Nino,” Jupiter said as the door closed behind her.

Aleksa nodded, “She has to know and soon. She’s probably already worried about us.”

“I think I should call her and have her meet me at the park, maybe meet Caine and then see you.”

“Jupiter, I think I should call her and have her meet you at the park. She needs to hear my voice and know I am all right.”

=*=  
Nino pressed the home button on her phone and sat thoughtfully. She’d somehow missed Alexa’s call from Jupiter’s phone and listened to her sister’s message to meet Jupiter and come back to where they were staying. Aleksa had sounded strained and it wasn’t like her to pull the “meet me and all will be revealed” card. Grimly she debated going upstairs and torturing Vladie to be sure that the criminals he associated with weren’t involved because her instincts about that message rang alarm bells in her head. The only way to be sure he didn’t call and warn them first if the mafia were involved would be to kill him. Her cousin had been too good to them to repay him with the death of his oldest. Nino determined that she would have to go to this meeting prepared for anything. With a muttered curse she knelt on the floor and reached under her bed to extract a box she rarely touched.

The Makarov gleamed in the light as she unwrapped pieces of her former life. Its condition was as good as the day she smuggled it out of Russia three days after a frantic telephone call from her sister told her that her brother-in-law was dead. 

Max had always been something of a mystery to Nino who was not used to genuinely kind people. That the icy Aleksa had not only thawed but warmed to this man recommended him highly but it didn’t stop her using every contact she had to be sure her sister would be safe. To the side of the weapons lay her boots wrapped lovingly in more of the oiled cloth and stuffed with paper to maintain their shape. The boots were remarkably well-preserved for their age but because they were the highest quality the USSR could offer a soldier they were designed to last a lifetime if you took care of them. The soles were thick, protective, and warm enough to wear in the coldest of days that Russia could offer. Instincts and planning strategies she hadn’t thought of in years were surfacing in her brain once again- filling her with caution and deadly calm. She would be the bohemian Aunt Nino walking to the late afternoon meeting with her niece prepared to anything necessary to keep them safe. 

Quickly she assembled the gun, loaded the clip along with a spare and turned her attention to a small but lethal blade that was a handy last resort. The boots went on like old friends. It was brisk these evenings by the water and they wouldn’t look out of place. Her skirt passed the tops of them and she gently slipped the knife in the top of the sheath inserted in the lining. Nothing was visible from the outside.

=*=  
Nino walked along the edge of the lake and saw a Jupiter leaning on the rail watching the setting sun with one foot crossed behind the other ankle. Her hair was in its usual ponytail, but her clothing was different than her usual jeans and shirt- well fitted and with clean lines more in keeping with a uniform. The fabric top shimmered discreetly in the setting sun. Just beyond her stood a taller man she realized had been watching her intently. Maybe this was the new boyfriend. She looked around for Aleksa and saw no one- which struck her as unusual for this time of day. There should be walkers on the paved area near the fence or others standing and watching the sun set. The area was unnaturally quiet.

Jupiter was also nervous. Nino recognized that from the set of her shoulders. Maybe this wasn’t the new boyfriend. Maybe something really had happened. The air of menace about him was unmistakable. This was, Nino suddenly knew without a doubt, a very, very dangerous man. The jacket he wore was matte but as he turned to her as Nino approached she saw that the shirt under it was the same fabric as Jupiter’s. It was clearly a uniform on him as instinct urged her in the opposite direction.

“Jupiter,” she said from a few feet away. “What is going on? Where is Aleksa? What has happened?” The man’s eyes regarded her steadily. Impassively.

“Aunt Nino, I want…” Jupiter’s face crumpled and she began to cry as she stepped forward toward her aunt.

Holding her arms wide, Nino walked forward to embrace her niece when the man behind her grabbed her niece and dragged her behind him to place his considerable bulk between them.

“Caine! What the hell…” Jupiter’s shout was one of surprise and fear.

Nino’s gun was already pointed by the time the words left Jupiter’s mouth and she found herself staring down the barrel of his weapon as what could only be a shield materialized with an electrical buzz just in front of him. Every vital organ was covered, and she wouldn’t fire at his legs for fear of a ricochet that might hit Jupiter.

“Let my niece go,” she said enunciating each word carefully as she searched for an opening in his defenses that posed no risk to Jupiter.

“Put the gun down,” he said, his voice a low rumble, “she is in no danger from me.” His gaze was steely now... and was he growling at her? Nino ignored him.

“A gun?” quavered Jupiter from behind the man, “Aunt Nino, have you lost your mind? Don’t shoot him!” Nino saw Jupiter take a step when something flicked out to block her. It took her mind a moment to register that it was a wing right as something struck her from above, knocking her arm with the gun aside and spinning her around. She never lost her grip on the gun, though, twisting her wrist free as she pivoted and used her attacker’s momentum to try and flip him over her shoulder. What she hadn’t counted on the wing that whacked her temple at the same time she heard a thud and what could only be a curse as her unarmed hand dug nails in somewhere. The world spun, and she went down hard on her side without the gun. Light caught her eye and she watched him skate in the air along the wall backwards with his own gun pointed at her using a pair of massive wings to slow his momentum. She knew with certainty that either of them would kill her where she was without a second thought as she saw her gun in his other hand. For her niece’s sake she froze although the look on her face triggered an involuntary snarl from her darker-skinned assailant revealing long canines all around that she knew weren’t there for show.

“Stop it! All of you.” Jupiter stomped out from behind Caine’s wing. “Put the guns down now.”

Then Jupiter was there, kneeling by Nino to help her up. “Jesus, Nino what were you thinking? Where did you get a gun? I’m fine. Mama’s fine.”

Nino straightened up slowly and looked at her niece backed by the winged soldiers, neither of whom had holstered a weapon although they were no longer pointing at her. “I think you and Aleksa have some explaining to do. Jupiter, who are these men?” 

Jupiter looked tired. “Nino, can you just take my word that they’re from space?”

“You mean like Star Trek? That kind of space?”

“It’s more like Dune, but yes.”

“Nino walked a slow circle around Caine, saying nothing. He stood calmly although Jupiter squirmed on the inside for his sake. Nino might be the more social of the two but when things were serious the Bolotnikov blood was apparent in the appraising semi-scowl Jupiter knew she and the sisters were capable of. 

“We need to go up to the ship. Mama’s anxious to see you.” Jupiter said suddenly as she walked off. “C’mon Nino.”

Winterborn stepped in front of Nino as she started to join her niece. “I need the rest of your weapons, please, Lady.”

Nino dug out the second clip from her pocket and handed it over as Jupiter walked back to stand beside her. The large hand appeared in front of her again, clearly waiting for something else. With a sigh, Nino pulled the sheathed knife from the small of her back and handed that over. The hand reappeared again clearly waiting for something else. Nino reached under her coat for the eyeglasses chain and pulled the thin piano wire garrote from its hiding place threaded through the links.

“Aunt Nino!” Jupiter was clearly aghast at seeing this side of her aunt. “Where did all this stuff come from?”

“I wasn’t always your crazy aunt Nino,” she said softly as she regarded the hand in front of her. Lifting her leg she slipped a finger inside the boot and pulled out the knife. “I want this back,” she said as she gently reversed the blade and laid the handle in his broad hand, “It has sentimental value to me.” The lycantant’s nostrils flared briefly and he nodded. “I will keep it safe, Lady.”

Jupiter hooked her arm through Nino’s and headed for a small area with very tall bushes where a pale blue beam was just unfurling from nowhere. “Mama and I were robbed at gunpoint yesterday. She was shot but she’s alive and completely healed. The healing process they have makes you look younger…” They stepped into the beam together and began to rise. That Jupiter did so with such confidence was the only thing that kept Nino in the beam. "I knew you were meant for great things, Jupiter. I wasn't expecting this."

“Intriguing,” mused Winterborn aloud as he tucked the gun and sheathed knife away in his belt. The garotte he tucked in a pocket at his hip. He held out the boot knife, balancing it on his palm. “I count fourteen different blood scents on this blade.”  
Caine leaned over and inhaled. “Twenty-two, not counting hers. Only two people have held it other than you.” Winterborn leaned over and tucked the knife inside his boot. “I’ll keep it safe for her.”

“You’re bleeding, by the way.”

“I know. She got two nails between the glove and the sleeve when she grabbed me.”

Caine’s quiet chuff in reply was the human equivalent of a snicker as he launched upward toward the ship to circle the blue beam around the Queen and her aunt. Winterborn glanced up at Nino and followed a moment later to guard Jupiter and her increasingly intriguing family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The OCs first appeared in another story "Loser Sleeps in the Barn" and snuck in to the Kitchen tales.  
> So Nino winds up not exactly as billed in canon but astrology and a knife with multiple blood scents aren't mutually exclusive.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aleksa copes.  
> Contents under pressure. Proceed with caution.

As Jupiter was in her cabin preparing to go meet Nino in Chicago Aleksa was pulling the tea bag from the steaming cup in front of her and debating what to do with it. At home they always kept a saucer on the table to put the bags on and whoever set the table for dinner emptied it. Here, she almost always forgot to get something to put it on when she was on board the Aegis cruiser. She couldn’t put it down to advancing old age any more since the healing- although she felt she could make a good case for being shocked out of her usual practical mind. The table tops in the Aegis mess hall were a pristine white that she thought was impractical in case someone spilled something that stained but this was space and they’d had millennia to come up with something stain resistant and probably self-cleaning, she thought with an edge of bitterness.

“May I take that, Your Highness?” a voice said from just beside her. This was- one of the bridge officers. She’d seen him on the walking tour of the ship with the Captain when she’d felt well enough to do so. They’d been trailed by Jupiter’s new boyfriend and personal guard, Caine Wise and her chief of security, Commander Apini that everyone called “Stinger”. She’d noticed that the brand on his neck was different and asked if that was something to do with rank. He explained that it was a splicer’s mark and what that meant about his being an apian splice. She’d seethed quietly after that having watched Jupiter’s eyes sparkle with temper during that explanation. Her daughter didn’t like that idea either. She'd started looking at the necks of the people she knew were splices. Today's guard, the one who had carried Jupiter to safety had the same mark as Stinger which meant he was also an apian splice. Caine Wise and the other, larger lycantant had different marks although they were spliced with the genes of an alien wolf. She really wanted someone to show her a picture of the wolf creature they were spliced with. 

This officer, Phylo Percadium had been the one sitting in the room when she first woke up on the ship. He’d left during the conversation after Jupiter arrived. He held what she suspected was a navigational post and supervised the calculations for the ship to make those gut-wrenching transitions across the space-time continuum. In fact, he seemed to be the one running the programs that took them from point to point. There was a strip on his uniform that no doubt said his name, but she couldn’t read the highly stylized glyphs of their language, although she counted nine glyphs on the strip.

“It’s hot,” she said brusquely, uncomfortable as always with anyone doing something for her that she could do herself. He took her tea bag neatly by its edge and carried it to the trash receptacle before approaching again. “May I?” he asked indicating the bench across the table from her.

“It’s your ship. You can sit where you want.” Aleksa was not feeling generous and she didn’t really have anyone to take it out on. Of course, she couldn’t be too rude to anyone- they might judge Jupiter by the way her mother acted. Jupiter seemed to like him, though, so she bit back the irritable comments on the tip of her tongue.

“Technically, it isn’t my ship, your Highness. It belongs to…”

“Don’t call me that!” Aleksa cut him off.

“Very well, Mrs. Jones,”

“Can’t you just call me Aleksa? What is it with you people and your titles?”

Phylo Percadium looked down and Aleksa saw the faintest twitch in the muscle in front of his ear behind the glittering chips of light and metal on his face. Maximillian had had a similar twitch when he was trying to hide his smile when she was being impossible. She had seen a lot of that twitch in the last two months of her pregnancy- their last precious weeks together it would turn out- as her stomach grew larger and her temper kept pace. Prior to the accident (Call it what it is Aleksa- murder. The shooting that almost took Jupiter from you. There was nothing about that criminal that was accidental.) those memories were as sharp as knives in her gut. Almost a quarter century later the memories were still keen but somehow it was less wrenching since she woke in this fairy tale that was her daughter’s life. Fairy tales, in her tradition, were often cautionary tales and she was prepared to be skeptical of anyone and everything not family. 

His eyes met hers. The eyes were a dark but very warm brown so unlike Max’s green ones. This one had secrets- he might have the carefully schooled face of a military man, but he had no idea how many of his secrets showed just under the carefully neutral gaze.

“Aleksa.” He said her name carefully, as if by trying it he needed to be careful with it. Then she realized that it was his own voice and not the translator she heard. He had a nice voice, she realized with a start that brought a flush of something that heated her cheeks and neck. Shame? Attraction? She plunged on, unused to small talk but insatiably curious about the larger world she would have to discover and cope with.

“So, you’re the navigator or is there another word for it in space?”

A short nod after the brief pause for his translator to parse her words. “I am. The ship has guidance systems but I’m responsible to make the calculations for the jumps through the portals.”

Aleksa leaned forward. “How do these portals work? Are they there already or do you create them?”

That led to another hour of conversation in which she was reassured that while the physics of the universe were slightly but dramatically different from what she had learned, the mathematics were not so she could understand the fundamentals of how the process of portaling worked. Aleksa felt like she needed to understand as much of the science as possible to be able to help Jupiter or at least not be a hinderance to any degree. Motion at the door caught her eye and she saw a group of crew members- splices by the look of them if she was learning anything at all- stop at the doorway, look up at something outside it, and turn away.

“Stop!” The word was out of her mouth before she knew it and she saw them hesitate and turn to face her looking nervously at someone she couldn’t see outside the door.

“Why won’t they come in?” She demanded as she laid her hand on Percadium’s arm across the table. “Is it because I’m in here?”

“I expect that your escort is deterring them from disturbing you,” Phylo said gently. “He is responsible for your safety on this watch.”

“My what?” Aleksa was taken aback. “Get in here, you!”

The crowd at the door edged out of the way as one of Jupiter’s guards stepped into the room. He was one of the tallest people she had every met and a cool killer to the core of him she felt certain. Jupiter had explained her guard very shortly after Aleksa woke which had led to a very enlightening conversation about splices, government, economics, and – she mentally spit- the Entitled. This guard was very different from the slightly smaller, lighter version orbiting Jupiter more tightly than an electron orbiting an atom. That attraction between those two was palpable to anyone with eyes and seemed to be returned enthusiastically and very happily by her daughter. The jury was still out as far as Aleksa was concerned. 

“Have you been keeping people out?” she demanded irritably. “These people work hard and need to eat. Did you think of that?”

He didn’t even flinch. “Your safety is my duty and my honor, Lady Aleksa. I did what I thought was best so that you could remain undisturbed during your discussion with Mr. Percadium.”

“Don’t do it again,” Aleksa snapped as she slapped her other hand on the table hard causing her cup to jump as she tried to ignore the shocked looks from the doorway. This was going to be all over the ship that Jupiter’s mother was not behaving well. Not integrating. Not coping well. That would be a distraction for Jupiter. She took a deep breath and blew it out trying to let some of her frustration and anger go with it. “Just let them in to go about their business. I’ll go.”

Phylo’s other hand pressed hers against his arm. “You don’t have to go. Lieutenant Danner will just need to stand closer to you so he can do his job.”

“I’m not that important,” Aleksa muttered. “All my life I was nobody special until Max-- and our relationship could be measured in weeks, not years.” She looked at the tabletop, suddenly overwhelmed by the changes of the last two weeks and watched her fingers turn white as she gripped the table so she wouldn't tear up.

“You’re the mother of an Abrasax queen,” Phylo said kindly as his hand squeezed hers gently. “Your health and safety are of the upmost importance to us all here. We will do anything we can to keep you safe and happy. You brought a remarkable young woman into this world, Aleksa. She would be a credit to any mother. ”

Aleksa stared at the table at the tiny splatter of tea she’d caused when she banged her hand on the table and watched it vanish- absorbed into the surface of the table until there was no trace. She’d been right. It was a self-cleaning table. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Danner against the wall closest to her where he had a good view of the door and the rest of the people in the room without her being in a line of fire for him. It made her self-conscious and stoked her anger once more.

“I’m not made of glass and I don’t need a keeper,” she snapped as she rose with her cup in her hand and headed to the panel where the trash receptacle was. “No, your High.. Aleksa” Phylo recovered nicely, “Keepers aren’t needed on the ship, only on the planet they’re assigned to.”

“What?” Aleksa snapped. “What are you talking about? Keepers are the people assigned to watch people who don’t have good sense.”

“Exactly,” said Percadium looking politely confused for a moment. One of the lights on his face flickered and understanding dawned on his face. “Ah,” he said with a charming smile Aleksa worked hard not to notice, “Dual meanings. Keepers the beings and keeper in the Earth sense of the word. Both are custodial functions. One is actual and the other a metaphor for…”

“Bah!” Aleksa spat not caring at interrupting him, “Custodian then.” She looked at Danner. “You stay here and leave me alone. I can find my way back to my room and take care of myself.” She noticed Phylo standing as if preparing to leave with her and snapped “Both of you!”

They both bowed and allowed her the dignity of an unescorted walk to the door where she almost collided with Commander Apini who was walking in the hallway just outside. 

“Ah, Aleksa,” he said heartily, “What a delightful surprise! I’m heading your way. May I walk with you for a while?" Feeling managed and knowing she’d been outmaneuvered but unable to prove it without embarrassing her daughter, Aleksa took the elbow he offered and let him escort her back toward her quarters. The look she shot over her shoulder at the pair remaining in the room usually quailed most people on the receiving end of it. The wings on the Skyjacker flicked a bit closer together. Percadium, on the other hand, turned up one corner of his mouth in a smile and bowed his head. Aleksa pressed her lips together and tightened her grip on Apini’s arm to keep from marching back into the room and giving that insufferable man a piece of her mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Not my characters or my 'verse.  
> This got out of hand pretty quickly. It started as hide-and-seek hijinks and grew some characters in "Loser Sleeps in the Barn"  
> Then I wondered what would happen if Aleksa got a second chance too.


End file.
